Leigh Gertz never thought she’d end up living in a historic home, much less restoring one from top to bottom. But that’s exactly where she and her husband Richard find themselves as owners of the Styron House on East Main Street in Washington — residing in Magnolia Shores until the renovation is complete.

It’s a big project, and a long one, but for the home that’s been in Richard Gertz’s family since it was built, renovating the right way was of prime importance to the young couple.

“The house has been in the family since it was built in 1870,” Gertz said. “What’s really cool is we’ve worked hard to keep the integrity of the house, (in keeping with) the historic period.”

Matching moldings and adding wainscoting, expanding the kitchen and adding a second story bedroom upstairs, redoing walls and leveling floors, a deck, a screened-in porch, replaced all the electrical — the list of renovations is long.

“We are basically doing everything from adjusting the foundation to expansion,” Gertz said.

And there’s a story about the foundation that’s in need of a bit of adjustment: it has to do with a literary giant and the tale of treasure. Pulitzer-Prize winning novelist William Styron mentions his grandmother’s home in Washington in his book, “Sophie’s Choice,” referencing gold coins buried by Styron’s great-grandfather in the cellar of the home after the Civil War. Richard Gertz’s grandfather, Charles Pearcy Franklin, dug out the basement, perhaps in search of the missing gold, according to Leigh Gertz. As a result, many years later, a bit of underpinning was required to level the house off again.

“The bones of the house were fine. We just had to make some corrections,” Gertz said.

A basement to roof renovation is no mean feat — especially for those who’ve never been through the process — but the Gertzes have had help from a good, and close, source: Gertz’s father, Chris Furlough, is a local building contractor, and even though historic homes aren’t usually on his project list, he was up for the job.

“Dad’s specialty is in new construction, so for me this was a brand new ballgame and it really wasn’t anything that dad was used to, but he was really excited to dive into this project and make a big impact,” Gertz said.

The largest impact has to come from the expansion/addition of a kitchen and second story bedroom. Like many houses of that era, the original building had a separate kitchen, and it was only later that a kitchen was tacked onto a given house like an afterthought. The Gertzes decided rather than simply redo what was there, they would expand and enhance, enlarging the kitchen, at the same time adding a second story to house another bedroom. What was previously a small, outdated kitchen with a back deck has given way to a larger, open layout that exits onto a big screened-in porch. New cabinets, new flooring, new granite countertops and little touches like a wine rack built into the kitchen island, all combine to usher a historic home into the modern lifestyle.

The renovation isn’t just about creating a comfortable place to live, though. It’s an homage to family and history.

“Richard’s mother (Pat Gertz) used to have the home on the homes tour at Christmas and that’s something we would really like to get back on. I think that’s something she would have been proud of,” Gertz said.

The work’s not yet completed — refinishing the heart of pine floors and installing granite countertops are next on the list. But the end is in sight—and by the end of April a new/old home will welcome the couple back to Main Street.

“We’re just excited to get it polished and looking back to the way it should look,” Gertz said.